Following Benjamin Netanyahu’s Wednesday announcement that 300 new Israeli homes would be built in the Beit El settlement in the West Bank, Construction Minister Ariel Attias said on Thursday that 550 additional settlements would be constructed elsewhere in occupied West Bank. These announcements come one day after the Knesset struck down a bill that would have legalized the Ulpana outpost, on the grounds that these settlements were not “legal.”
In response to the announcement, the U.S. State Department released a statement saying the continued settlement activity “undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations.” Said spokesman Mark Toner, “Our position on settlements remains unchanged. We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity.”
Via Al-Jazeera.
